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Batman: Gothic
Batman tells them to rot in the Hell they've created, but later in the Batcave with Alfred he remembers a shadow-less man from his past. Bruce went to an awful boarding school as a child where he was caned by the shadow-less headmaster Mr. Winchester, also believed to have killed several of his classmates. The mobster who summoned Batman is attacked by Whisper and Batman arrives to stop him, although it's too late because his wine has already been poisoned. Batman chases after Whisper and they simultaneously recognize each other before Whisper falls off a building and escapes. ]] Batman decides to investigate Whisper's history and returns to the boarding school, where information about Winchester takes him to Austria. There he learns the story of a devil-worshiping monk named Manfred who ran an evil monastery and sold his soul for immortality, until the monks were all killed in a great flood. When Batman visits the haunted monastery, he finds that Whisper's next plans involve Gotham Cathedral. Returning to Gotham, Batman confronts the last mobster and learns the story of their original confrontation with Whisper. Looking into the cathedral's gothic architecture, Bruce determines that Whisper has built his own cathedral pointed down towards Hell instead of up towards Heaven. Whisper kills the last mobster and captures Batman when he tries to stop him. Tying him inside a deathtrap, Whisper explains to Batman that he plans on killing thousands with a virulent plague strain to cheat the devil out of his soul and then activates the trap and leaves. takes Whisper's soul.]] Batman escapes and chases after Whisper, exploding the doors off the cathedral to confront him. Whisper almost releases his plague, but they struggle through a wall and begin fighting in the subway. Whisper gets hits by a train and survives then tries to hold Batman on the tracks but fails and gets hit again. Rushing back inside the cathedral, Batman barely stops the plague from being released in time. Whisper escapes to his hotel room, where he's confronted by the Devil who explains that his time is up and forcibly takes him to Hell. Later, Batman receives Whisper's heart in the mail and journeys to Austria again so he can throw it into the sunken monastery. | Issues = * * * * * | Vehicles = | Items = | Weapons = | Notes = explains the meaning of the title "Gothic."]] * The title of this story is a reference to . Much of the plot revolves around the idea that architecture can be used for good or evil, as a method of directing the prayers of human souls closer to God or in the case of Mister Whisper sending them to the Devil. | Trivia = * This story reveals that the night Bruce Wayne's parents were killed, they were attending the theater to celebrate him coming home from boarding school. Whisper credits this random murder as the only reason Thomas Wayne didn't uncover him. This is a reference to their original Golden Age appearance. However, this story detail has been contradicted in several other instances. * Despite being part of the Morrison's Batman mega-series, Gothic does not directly connect to the rest of the saga. However, Morrison uses similar themes to Whisper with the villain Doctor Hurt, another evil-worshiping immortal who made a deal with a greater power. | RecommendedReading = | Links = * }} Category:Grant Morrison's Batman